Traitor to the Cause
by Drizzt1138
Summary: What happens when a Guardian decides to stop working for the Traveller and goes rogue? Assumes that the "Guardians are evil" theory is true. Mostly deals with content earlier in the original game, not the expansions. Rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

Traitor to the Cause

A Destiny Fanfic

 _Note: This story works off of the "Destiny crackpot theory" originally proposed on Reddit by a user named neocitron. If you are not familiar with this theory, I suggest you search "Game Theory Destiny" on YouTube, the first result should be a video explaining the theory. Enjoy!_

The Cosmodrome

Old Russia, Earth

In one of the many long-abandoned buildings of the Cosmodrome, a battle raged. It had started just like any patrol for a certain Exo Hunter who had initiated it, but it would soon turn into one of the most important, fateful encounters of his life.

Cog-38 fired his pulse rifle again and again, sending bursts of projectiles tearing through the horde of Fallen enemies. Many of his shots hit their marks, but an unfortunate few passed by their targets, hitting the wall on the opposite side of the room and sending up showers of sparks. The Hunter cursed upon seeing this; he was running low on ammo already, and the opposing forces just seemed to be getting thicker.

He tried slowing down, taking his shots more carefully, and still missed a few. Cog had no idea why his Ghost had chosen him; he had ironically bad aim for a Hunter, and on top of that he had no real courage to speak of. He had never seen himself as fit to be a Guardian, and the grim situation he was in was just affirming this notion. Still, despite his doubts he kept on fighting, taking cover behind a large bank of computers and peeking out every once in a while to let off a few rifle bursts.

Eventually he ran out of ammunition for the pulse rifle, and was forced to switch to his shotgun. Rushing towards the nearest of the enemies, he opened fire, trying to take out as many has he could. The sound of each shot boomed out like thunder, and with each pull of the trigger an enemy fell. His shields were falling fast, but he kept pushing. He managed to take out a large chunk of the Fallen before they got into the red, but by then he had already spent the majority of his shotgun shells.

Soon he had taken his last few shots, and was forced to make one final, last-ditch attempt. Using up the last bits of power he had, Cog summoned his Golden Gun. As the Light-charged pistol materialized in his hands, he took careful aim and disintegrated the nearest of the enemies. The other Fallen moved back behind cover, and those that failed to do so were felled by the blasts from the powerful gun. But soon the Golden Gun ran out of charges, and Cog-38's final advantage was lost.

As the Light faded away, the shadows in the chamber seemed to grow much larger and more substantial. The Fallen rushed towards the Hunter, and he knew this was the end. All back-up plans and energies exhausted, Cog-38 did the last thing he could do. He raised his hands and surrendered.

The Fallen continued to surge towards the Hunter, completely surrounding him. Yet, strangely enough, they did not open fire upon him. They were still cautious, true, weapons still raised and ready to cut him down at any second, but they did not do so. Instead, they appeared to be conversing with each other.

It didn't take to long for Cog to come up with a theory on what was going on, but just because it came to his mind quickly didn't make it any more believable. It would seem as though the Fallen were discussing what to do with him, and yet he knew that it couldn't be true. He had never heard of such a thing; why would the Fallen start taking prisoners now, when all he had ever known them to do was kill?

Suddenly the group parted, making way for the biggest member of their kind that Cog had ever seen. It's four arms were large and strong, and in them it carried a large staff, devoid of ornament. The large Fallen approached the Exo warily, sizing him up. It circled around him, inspecting every inch of the Guardian's person, and Cog could smell it's strong odor even through his helmet.

After making several slow laps around the Hunter, the Fallen leader uttered something in it's own guttural language, walking back down through the crowd surrounding them. And then something miraculous happened. The Fallen lowered their weapons and began to follow their leader. The ones behind Cog ushered him forward, and he realized that while they were not going to kill him, they were taking him with them. He was not sure which fate was worse, but he would surely find out soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Light and Dark

The Fallen took him deeper into the building, into some kind of underground substructure. All around them were concrete pillars and ceilings, dripping with moisture. It almost seemed like a man-made cave, a cavern of right angles and manufactured stone. The Hunter studied the surroundings as best he could, but shortly after they entered one of the Vandals approached him with a strip of cloth. Not wanting to risk getting killed over something as trivial as a blindfold, he allowed the alien to take off his helmet and cover his optics with it.

From there, he obviously couldn't tell much about what was going on. The Fallen seemed to be taking him downwards, even further into the structure. In the absence of his sight, all his other senses became more acute. He could hear the water dripping from above and hitting the puddles below. He could feel the slope of the ground beneath his feet. And he could smell the pungent scent of the aliens all around him.

Eventually the strange procession came to a halt. He heard the grinding of concrete shifting, and then the aliens led him through what must have been some kind of hidden doorway. Once the entire group was inside, the door shut once more, and even through the blindfold Cog-38 could tell that they had entered an area of complete and total darkness.

The Fallen continued to lead him onward, although the Exo had no idea how they could see at all. Still, they made their way forward, and eventually the blackness wasn't so black anymore. Slowly but surely, a dim light crept back into the world. Cog was still blindfolded, of course, but through the cloth in front of his eyes he could detect a small amount of light up ahead.

Soon one of the Vandals removed the blindfold, and he saw one of the last things he would ever have expected in this situation. He was in a chamber of roughly hewn stone walls, and there in front of him, illuminated by light from torches all along the walls, was a fellow Guardian. Another Hunter, in fact, outfitted with superior, high-powered armor and weapons.

It took Cog a few moments to process this, and a few more to actually react. The Hunter and the Fallen waited patiently until he did, finally, speak up. "What is going on here?" Cog asked bluntly, with an amount of calm and composure that actually surprised the Exo a little. He had expected anything that would have come out of his mouth at that moment to be pure jibberish.

"You are in my inner sanctum," The other Hunter said, "My last refuge from the Light."

Cog hadn't thought that he could be any more surprised, but now that notion had been proved entirely false. "Your 'last refuge from the Light'? You're a Guardian! Why would you need to hide from the force that saved you?"

The figure before Cog-38 did not respond immediately, but instead reached up and took off his helmet. The face beneath was human, old and weathered. "I am no longer a Guardian," He said, his voice rough and tired-sounding. "I turned away from the Traveler long ago."

"Why?" The Exo asked, almost afraid of what the answer would be. He had no idea why, but this entire situation felt terrifyingly real, like he had just awoken from a dream and found himself in a nightmare he couldn't yet comprehend.

The human studied him carefully before speaking up again. "The Traveler is not what it seems. It brings destruction everywhere it goes, and it leads armies of the dead against those who seek justice against it." As he said the last part, he gestured vaguely towards himself and Cog. "My name is Pujari, and as far as I know, I am the only Guardian to ever stand against the Traveler."

Cog tensed up slightly, looking at Pujari even more warily now. "So you decided to join the Fallen, is that it? In order to destroy the Traveler, to destroy what little life is left in the galaxy?"

The old Hunter shook his head slightly. "To destroy the Traveler? Yes. To destroy life? No. I come to preserve life, not to eliminate it as the Guardians do. I strive to protect humanity, the Exo, and the Awoken, as well as the Fallen and the Hive and all other life in the galaxy."

"But the Traveler preserves life as well!" Cog argued. "Why would you want to get rid of it when it's gifts have provided so much for us?"

"Because the Traveler's gifts do not come without a price," Pujari replied. "Do you truly believe it would simply aid humanity without wanting anything in return? It is not automatically a force of good just because it channels the Light, nor is the Darkness inherently evil just because we choose to call it that. In reality, names mean little beyond what significance they are given by the speaker. Actions are what truly define who someone is. All the Traveler truly does is bring destruction; that is what it truly is."

Cog-38 thought this over for a while, completely silent. The human's words were nigh blasphemous… And yet they ringed with a certain truth. It was like the former Guardian was telling him things that he had already known, and yet had not realized that he had known them. Nearby, a droplet of water fell from the ceiling and hissed as it hit the flames of one of the torches lining the walls.

After a moment Pujari spoke up again, somewhat reluctantly, but seeing that his point was sinking in. "The Fallen and I have agreed to let you go as a gesture of goodwill. What you do from here is up to you. But we implore you; don't just let this go. Go back to the Tower, to the other Guardians, and spread the word of the Traveler's ill intentions."

Cog-38 simply nodded and turned away. Silently, he walked towards the chamber's exit, where a Vandal was waiting with another blindfold. He allowed himself to be blinded again, and after a short time he was back outside on Earth's surface. The Vandal that had led him out disappeared back into the building, and the Hunter was on his own again.

The seeds of doubt had been planted in his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Companions of a Traitor

Shortly after the Vandal left, Cog's Ghost, who he had nicknamed Circuit, appeared in front of him with a shimmer of light. It still had a standard shell, since the Hunter hadn't gained enough prowess in the field yet to afford a new one. "Look, I was still in your armor while all that went down, and trust me, you can't believe anything they told you!" The Ghost exclaimed, twitching with rage.

"If you were still there, then why didn't you say anything?" The Guardian shot back. _Why should I believe anything you, as a servant of the Traveler, have to say to me,_ the little voice inside his head said. A voice that was growing louder with each second that passed, slowly revealing the truth to him.

"You never know who else may be listening," Circuit claimed defensively. "The Darkness is a powerful force, one with many methods of achieving it's goals. For all we know, that entire encounter was an- an illusion or something!"

The Exo was doubtful about that particular assertion, but remained silent and just kept on walking. He gripped his pulse rifle a bit tighter; strangely enough, the Fallen had allowed him to keep his weapons even after he surrendered. As far as he could figure, this was because they knew he wouldn't dare to fight back. _Or because they saw me as a potential ally,_ the little voice claimed.

In the background, he could still hear Circuit ranting about heresy and treachery. The Ghost was getting on Cog's nerves now. It's arguments were really just strengthening the notion that something wasn't right about the Traveler in Cog-38's mind. "Circuit, enough. Just get the Jumpship and let's head back to the Tower."

For a second he thought the AI would continue to argue, but after a few seconds it gave a resigned sigh and did as he asked. Soon his Arcadia-class Jumpship appeared in the sky above them (he hadn't collected nearly enough funds to upgrade his ship, either), and they were on their way back to the Last City.

* * *

Upon reaching the Tower, Cog-38 immediately noticed that everything had changed. No in terms of actual, physical change, but instead in terms of a perceived shift in tone. That is, after speaking with Pujari, nothing in the main hub of the Tower looked quite the same to him. The gunsmith over in the corner now appeared as a peddler of death and destruction, giving the Guardians tools to deal out death where they had no right to. The bounty tracker seemed obscene, handing out assignments to the killers that surrounded him.

Eris was the worst. Before she had been creepy, sure, but now she seemed downright sinister. He had never really heard her words, but now they rang out loud and clear. She spoke of genocide, of the elimination of free life. Of all the Traveler's followers, she was the harshest, the most maniacal.

Cog tried his best to stay casual as he made his way through the hub. It was difficult, but made slightly easier by the fact that he usually left his helmet on in public. He nodded to a few people along the way, but made sure not to do anything that could suggest he was open to conversation. It seemed to pay off; people ignored him for the most part.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Cog made it back to his quarters. Once inside, he went straight to his bed. He needed time to think, to rejuvenate and collect himself. Crashing down onto the mattress, he spread out his arms and legs in exhaustion. The events of the past few hours had taken as much out of him as a month of patrols would have under other circumstances.

Looking up at the ceiling, he tried and failed to gain his bearings. There were just too many thoughts buzzing around in his head, causing complete havoc. He was supposed to be a Guardian, a protector of the innocent, a champion of peace and justice. But the more he thought about it, the more he knew that the exact opposite was the case. Cog-38 and his companions were mere weapons, undead harbingers of the Traveler's ill will. The revelation was almost too much to handle.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knocking on the door. He went to check it, seeing on the vid screen next to the doorway that it was his friend Ankrell. He silently debated with himself about whether or not he should open the door for a few seconds. On the one hand, if he let his friend in, there was a chance that he would notice Cog's strange behavior. On the other hand, if he didn't open the door, Ankrell would almost certainly notice something was wrong, since Cog had told him that he would be back by this time today. Eventually, he decided to let his friend in based on this line of logic.

Ankrell was an Awoken Warlock with colorful blue and yellow armor, light purple hair and vibrant green eyes. He was fairly new to the whole situation of being a Guardian, and liked to hang out with Cog by virtue of the fact that the Hunter was one of the few who didn't consider him completely useless as a Warlock. This, in turn, was because the Exo found himself to be even worse at his own vocation.

"Good afternoon, sir!" Ankrell said with a dramatic bow as Cog opened the door.

The Hunter laughed and gave a mocking salute in return. "Come on in," He said, "Make yourself comfortable."

The Warlock flopped down on the nearest couch- an old leather monstrosity, yet another reminder of Cog's poor finances- and started talking about some gun or other that he recently acquired. The Hunter vaguely registered that Ankrell was excited about how much better he was doing in the field because of this new gun. But he was thinking more and more about what Pujari had said just before they parted ways.

He knew what he had to do, but that didn't make it any easier. Still, eventually he worked up what little nerve he had and told Ankrell about what had happened earlier that day. The Warlock was slightly irritated that his story had been interrupted, but listened politely to what his friend had to say anyway.

"This is completely insane!" The Awoken exclaimed once Cog-38 had finished his story. "Do you seriously believe this? Are you sure you're not just… Imagining things or something?"

"How could I make this kind of stuff up?" The Exo replied, "How could anyone? I know it sounds crazy, but doesn't at least some of it ring true?"

"I don't know…" Ankrell trailed off. He ran his hands through his long mane of hair a bit, thinking things over. "You aren't seriously considering telling others about this, are you?"

Cog shifted a bit. "Actually, I've been thinking it over… And I need you to do that. You're going to have to spread the word on the Tower." He saw doubt on the Warlock's face, and started talking faster, panicking slightly. "Please, if you've ever truly considered yourself my friend, I need you to do this for me… At least spread the theory of it, make sure that people are thinking about it when the time comes."

The Awoken made a 'calm down' gesture, trying to placate the Hunter. "Alright, alright, I'll do it… But what do you mean, 'when the time comes'? And where are you going, anyway?"

Cog-38 ignored the former question. To the latter, he replied; "I'm going to go join Pujari."


	4. Chapter 4

Initiation

Circuit remained silent throughout the encounter and up until Cog was back in the Jumpship. However, once they were safely on their way back to Pujari's hideout, he decided to speak up again. "I still can't believe you're going through with this," The Ghost exclaimed. "It's beyond crazy! I mean, you meet this washed-up ex-Guardian who says the Traveler is evil and you just believe him?!"

"Look, it's not like that, Circuit," Cog responded wearily. "I have my doubts about both sides of the issue. I recognize that Pujari may not be entirely in the right here. But at the same time, I'm not sure that the Traveler's intentions are entirely pure, either. At this point, I'm just trying my best to not trust anyone too much."

"That's certainly not how it looks from my perspective," The AI replied. "It looks like you're throwing your lot in with a traitor, one whose motives you might not entirely understand." After a long pause, it continued. "You know, sometimes it seems like you're trying to make my job of making sure you get through your missions as hard as you can."

The Hunter turned to look at his companion. "Wait a second. Are you saying you're still going to keep working with me? Even after all that arguing, you're not leaving?"

The Ghost looked back at him. It was hard to tell what it was thinking, but its words seemed straightforward enough. "Well of course I'm going to stick with you. I told you back when all this started, we're in this together now. Nothing can change that."

Cog was genuinely, pleasantly surprised by this. He honestly hadn't thought that Circuit would let him follow through with this, much less help him with it. He tried not to over-react, instead simply nodding and saying, "Thank you, Circuit. That means a lot."

The Ghost simply bobbed slightly in the air, it's equivalent of a nod. Soon they were back on the ground in Old Russia, and started the relatively short trek back to the hideout. As they walked through the heavily rusted remains of human civilization, the were not bothered by any Fallen patrols, most likely because of Pujari's intervention. They had to do a fair bit of searching, but eventually they found the entrance and made their way in.

It was somewhat odd for Cog, returning to a place he had never seen on the way in, and yet knew from his other senses. As he walked he could just make out the droplets falling from pipes up above, through the dimly lit air and into the pitch-black puddles of water below.

He stopped in front of one of these puddles, looking at his reflection. The light from one of the nearby lamps on the walls reflected weakly off his metal face. _Is this the face of a killer?_ he thought to himself. _Am I becoming who I want to be? Do I even know what I want to be?_ He raised his gloved hands and clenched them lightly. He hoped he would find the answers to his questions up ahead.

Upon entering the inner sanctum, Cog found Pujari eating something he couldn't quite identify out of a wooden bowl, his helmet on the table beside him. It took the former Guardian a few seconds to notice the Exo, but when he did he almost spit out what he was eating in shock. Swallowing hastily, he practically shouted, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be back at the Tower!"

Cog jumped slightly at the other Hunter's rather loud reaction. "It's fine," He said, "I told one of my friends about you, and he agreed to spread the word about you on the Tower. Meanwhile, I want to actually do something, to be out on the front lines."

The Exo spoke calmly, in an attempt to placate Pujari, but it seemed to be having the exact opposite effect. Clearly exasperated, the old human put one hand to his face. "You had one job, Cog. You were supposed to do it yourself, not shirk your duty and lay it on someone else. You have no idea how much this interferes with my plans!"

"Then explain it to me," the Exo said, growing slightly angry himself now. "Tell me how exactly I ruined everything by coming back here to help you out!"

"You want me to tell you? Fine," The human spat. "First of all, back on the Tower, you could have been useful. I can read people, and I could tell that you would truly be able to devote yourself to my cause. But this friend of yours, I don't know him. I have absolutely no idea if I can trust him or not. By putting this on him instead of doing it yourself, you very well may have just single-handedly undone years of planning and preparation."

"I did it because you need help!" Cog exclaimed. "You can't possibly run all this on your own!"

"Actually, I can!" Pujari retorted. "You have absolutely no idea what the situation is here! There are no 'front lines' out here! The front lines haven't even been drawn yet, but when they are, they're going to be back at the Tower, not here! By coming back here, all you really could have done is possibly let the Traveler know where I am, which is almost as bad as leaving recruitment duty to your friend!"

"I wasn't followed," The Exo argued, "And besides, there must be something I can do to help, now that I'm here!"

"You have no idea how wrong you are, do you?" Pujari shouted throwing his hands in the air. "All I do here is wait for the right moment to recruit someone who can do the recruiting on the Tower for me! That was you, but you completely botched the job! And once the Traveler finds out you're here through your Ghost, it will do two things; first, it will cut off your Ghost's ability to revive you, making you quite a bit more vulnerable. Second, it will immediately send out Guardians to come here and eliminate us. So unless we can make the move to another location in time, you may have just doomed us all."

Cog couldn't think of how to respond. It was finally beginning to dawn on him how dire the situation truly was. "I'm sorry," Was all he could manage to get out.

"Well you should be," Pujari snapped. After a few moments of silence, he sighed and continued. "I suppose it can't be helped now. Still, we need to move fast, and we've wasted most of our time to talk on arguing, so I'm going to make this quick. There's an artifact on Mars known as the Warlord's Tear. It will disconnect your Ghost from the Traveler. Once you've done that, I'll send you coordinates at which we can meet up. Agreed?" Cog nodded. "Then get going."

And so he did.


	5. Chapter 5

The Warlord's Tear

As the Jumpship entered Martian orbit, Circuit advised Cog on their course of action. "This area is going to be much more dangerous than what you're used to dealing with," The Ghost told him. "The best suggestion I can give you is to lay low until we can find this artifact Pujari described. Steer clear of both Guardians and any Cabal or Vex you might encounter."

The Guardian nodded, seeing the sense in what he was being told. "What about the artifact itself? Is there any information you can give me about it?"

"As a matter of fact, there is," Circuit said, seeming very pleased with itself. "The Warlord's Tear is the shard of a Ghost that came into direct contact with the Darkness. This contact cut it off from the Traveler, but did not destroy it. It was, however, destroyed by some Guardians the Speaker sent after it, but if we can locate the shard of its shell, we may be able to reconstruct it or incorporate it into another shell with similar abilities."

"Why exactly is it called 'The Warlord's Tear' anyway?" Cog asked.

"Because the Ghost's original owner was a Titan who called himself a Warlord, and the shard is vaguely tear-shaped," His Ghost responded, "But that's not important right now. What is important is that we find that shard, construct the shell, and get back to Pujari before the assault on the Tower starts. Are you ready?"

The Exo sighed. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Soon enough he was down on the surface of Mars, among the ruins of the Golden Age. Making his way from building to building, the Hunter moved silently, doing his best to avoid engagements as his Ghost had suggested. He was successful for the most part; in fact, he didn't even see anyone else for the first fifteen minutes or so of his trek.

Eventually he did come across a group of Vex, ones who just so happened to be in the middle of a skirmish against a lone Guardian. He watched them for a bit, strangely enraptured by the sight of it. The Guardian, another Hunter, was cutting through the Vex with swift, lethal efficiency. As he looked on, Cog couldn't help but imagine how things would have been different if they were Exo and not Vex.

While it was a valuable philosophical quandary, it was not one that he had time to pursue at the moment. He had a job to do, and so he set out to do it. Circuit had located the artifact deep within one of the hulking structures around them, and after a bit of searching and a few wrong turns, they found themselves delving into the basements and sub-basements below one of the forgotten laboratories.

The corridors and chambers down below the Martian surface were surprisingly well lit, considering that they had not been used for decades. As they searched, the style and composition of the architecture changed several times from geometric steel designs to rounded concrete pillars and back.

When they had searched three or four of the labyrinthine levels of the building, they suddenly became aware of footsteps echoing through the halls around them. Raising his pulse rifle and hiding behind one of the pillars, Cog tried to pinpoint the source of the noise, but it was too difficult to tell where it was coming from. Then it finally occurred to him to check his motion tracker. Doing so, he realized to his horror that the source of the footsteps was right behind him.

Whirling around with his weapon ready, Cog found a very strange sight. Standing in the middle of the hallway was a very short, scrawny female Guardian wearing Titan armor. She had a hand cannon at her side, but no weapons in her hands, which were up in the air in a sign of submission. "Woah, woah, don't shoot!" She was shouting. "I'm a Guardian, we're on the same side!"

"What are you doing down here?" Cog asked, cautiously lowering his weapon. He tried his best to take the edge off his voice; he had been hoping to avoid contact with other Guardians entirely, but now he had no choice but to try and act natural.

The Titan took off her helmet, revealing herself to be a pretty young human with olive-colored skin and long brown hair tied up in a tight bun. "My name is Haley," She said, extending one hand towards Cog. As he shook it, she continued. "I was down here looking for loot, but I kind of got lost. Could you help me find my way back up to the surface?"

Cog remained calm on the outside, but on the inside he was having a bit of a breakdown. This was the absolute last thing he needed at the moment. It had taken him a while to get down here in the first place, and going back up to the surface now only to come back and start the search all over again would waste way more time than he had to spare. He wanted to help her, but he couldn't. And yet on the other hand, he had no way to refuse her without looking conspicuous.

Eventually, he decided that it was worth the risk to turn her down. Even in the event that she reported him or something, it would be far worse to miss the attack on the Tower entirely. "I'm sorry, I really can't," He said, thinking fast to come up with a lie. "I'm on an urgent mission for the Speaker, I'm already running out of time."

Haley seemed completely unperturbed by this. "That's fine," She said, "I'll just come with you, and then after the mission is over we can go back to the surface together!"

Cog wanted to scream, helplessly wondering how this situation could get any worse. It was clear from the look in her eyes that nothing short of brute force would keep her from following him, and unfortunately that wasn't an option at the moment.

He couldn't see any happy ending to the situation, but still took the only path that seemed open to him. "Sure," He said, "You can come. But we have to move fast, ok?"

Haley seemed very excited by this new development. "Ok, yeah! Let's go!" She started down the corridor, with the very rattled Exo in tow. "By the way, you never mentioned your name!"

"It's Cog-38," The Hunter told her lightly, dread building in his mechanical heart with every step they took.

* * *

Eventually the two of them finally came upon the chamber where the Warlord's Tear was held. It wasn't all that much, just a small chamber like the dozens of others that they had passed trying to find this one. The main difference was that this one contained a large chest, half-buried among the rubble. Slowly, cautiously, the Hunter approached the container and opened it. And sure enough, there it was; a shard of a Ghost's shell, black as pitch with patterns on it that glowed with greenish-grey light.

Haley looked on as Cog gently picked up the shard in the same way one would pick up a piece of broken glass. "What is that thing?" She asked, completely entranced.

Cog placed the shard in one of his belt pouches, silently praying he would be fast enough- and have enough nerve- to do this. Moving as quickly as he could, he turned around and pulled his shotgun on her, aiming it directly at her head for a killing shot.

But he couldn't pull the trigger. Even if her Ghost would just end up bringing her back afterwards, he couldn't bring himself to kill another Guardian.

Regardless, before he could change his mind Circuit appeared beside him, shouting, "Wait, don't shoot her! She can join us!"

Haley was completely shocked. "Join you? What are you talking about? Cog, why are you pulling a gun on me?!" She had her hands in the air again, as well as a hurt look on her face.

"Are you sure we can trust her?" The Exo asked his Ghost, not taking his eyes off the human in front of him.

"It couldn't hurt to try," Circuit replied. "Either she joins us and we have a new ally, or she doesn't and the outcome is the same."

Cog nodded slowly, then sighed and told Haley his story, from beginning to end. And when he walked out onto the surface again, she was by his side, for good or for ill.


	6. Chapter 6

Assault on the Tower

A Note to the Reader:

I try to avoid putting notes in my stories when possible, but in this case I feel as though I should apologize profusely for taking such a long hiatus from writing this story without warning. In the future I hope to avoid this situation entirely by completing stories in their entirety before posting them. Thank you all for your patience, and I sincerely hope you enjoy the conclusion to this story.

Cog-38 and his new companion made their way back to the airspace surrounding the Tower as fast as possible, and almost as soon as they arrived he received a call from Pujari. "Alright, we've got one shot at this," He announced, opting to avoid both banter and formality. "Hold absolutely nothing back, and don't let anything stop you from getting to the objective. We get in, kill the Speaker, and move on from there. That, or we die trying. Understood?"

Both Guardians affirmed that he had clearly conveyed the plan to them. Cog noted that Pujari made no mention of the fact that they had an unexpected guest. While this seemed strange to him, he was also greatly relieved that he didn't need to provide an explanation. Without any further conversation, the three of them piloted their Jumpships down toward their destination.

As they passed below the cloud layer and the Tower came into view, Cog called Ankrell and told him to start his attack, as well as to wait for him near the landing zone once he had done so. Shortly afterwards the three ships passed over the landing zone and the Hunter and his companions were teleported down to begin their mission. By the time their boots hit the ground, things were already starting to get chaotic. There were Guardians everywhere, and the opening salvos of a firefight began to ring out through the air.

Cog and the others began to run, making their way towards the Speaker's section of the Tower. As they did, one of the Guardians in the crowd ahead turned towards them. They had no idea whether she was a friend or foe, but as she raised her assault rifle it became clear she was at least someone they wanted to avoid. The Exo tried to sprint off to the side, but she opened fire upon them anyway. A few of the rounds found their mark and dropped his shields, but he managed to slide behind some crates before any more could hit him.

Pujari and Haley took cover beside him. The other Hunter tried to peer over the tops of the crates to assess the situation, but soon he had to duck back down to avoid getting his hit by another spray of bullets. He cursed, then turned to Cog. "We need to flank her," The old human explained. "Cog, lay down some cover fire so Haley and I can deal with it."

Cog, unable to refuse the command in good conscience, nodded numbly. Then Pujari began to count down from three; once he hit "one", he and Haley dashed out from behind the crates. Cog stood up at the same time, raising his pulse rifle and taking aim at the Guardian with the assault rifle. Through the scope of his weapon he could see that she was starting to take aim at his companions.

He tried to pull the trigger- and found that he couldn't. Even with the stakes so high, he couldn't allow himself to shoot another Guardian. Frantically, mentally berating himself for agreeing to complete a task he should have known he wouldn't be able to follow through with, he ran after the others and began calling out to them, trying to warn them. He had only taken a few steps before the Guardian with the assault rifle opened fire upon them. Despite the deafening chaos around him, the sound of the shots rang out clearly with a dreadful sense of finality. He watched helplessly as the bullets ripped through Pujari's body, causing it to jerk and ultimately fall to the ground.

The Hunter ran the rest of the way to his fallen companion. He was vaguely aware of the fact that Haley had turned and shot off a few rounds from her hand cannon at the other female Guardian. Kneeling down, he was horrified to see that there was blood dripping from several wounds on the old human's torso. "Pujari? Are you…?" He let the rest of the question die off in his throat, unwilling to speak it into being.

Pujari coughed forcefully before speaking. "I forgot my shields weren't up… Haven't done much fighting since I lost my Ghost." He looked Cog straight in the eye. There was a fierce anger in his gaze, but this was blunted by quite a bit of fatigue and pain. "You didn't cover us, did you? Didn't have the nerve?"

In that moment Cog-38 wanted nothing more in the world than to run away and leave everything behind. But for some reason he didn't. For some reason he held the elder Hunter's gaze and replied with a single, solid word; "No."

The old man sighed, then coughed some more. The hacking fit was followed by a similarly simple response. "Good."

The Exo was completely taken aback. Had this irritable, world-weary ex-Guardian just congratulated him for failing to follow through with a task? "What do you mean, 'good'? You're bleeding out, and it's my fault! I'm too much of a coward to do anything right, and now you're going to die!"

The human shook his head, holding up a shaky hand to cut the other Hunter off. "First of all, you're owning up to your mistakes. That's not cowardice in my book. On top of that, you didn't mess up because you were afraid. Your mistake was that you set your standards too high, tried to push yourself too hard. And as for not shooting that other Guardian? That wasn't cowardice either. That was bravery. You stayed true to yourself and refused to take a life. Just like I hoped you would."

Yet again, Cog was left reeling. "You knew this would happen? Why would you throw away your life like this?"

Pujari shrugged. "I wasn't gonna live much longer anyway. I would much rather spend my last moments testing your integrity to make sure you'll do this right than failing to do it myself and leaving myself guessing about how you would follow through. Now leave me to die a happy man. We don't have time to be arguing."

Confused and frustrated, Cog looked to Haley for support. As he did, he noticed that Ankrell and some other Guardians had gathered around him and Pujari, the ones near the outer edge of the circle with weapons drawn forming a protective perimeter. Cursing under his breath, he stood and addressed Ankrell. "Can you leave some of these guys behind to protect him?"

Ankrell nodded. "Zirjac, Crux-12, Jude, stay here and protect the man. If any of you have the ability try and patch him up when you get the chance."

Cog nodded in approval, then raised his voice to address the rest of the Guardians. "Alright, we're gonna follow the plan. We find the Speaker, capture him if possible, or kill him if the need arises. Any questions?" None were raised. "Good. Now move out."

With those words the group broke formation, making their way towards their quarry's location. Cog, Haley and Ankrell soon found themselves at the front of the group, leading their fellow Guardians in rebellion against the very force that had brought them back from the dead. They met with some resistance, yet for each individual that took up arms against them there were several more that joined them in their charge against the forces of the Traveler.

They found the Speaker exactly where he always was, flipping through a book and seemingly unconcerned by the situation at hand. As their allies fanned out and secured the area, the Hunter, the Titan and the Warlock dashed up the steps and surrounded him, weapons raised. "Hands above your head," Haley commanded, her posture relaxed and ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

The Speaker complied, slowly and calmly raising his arms. "There's no need to do this, you know," he said evenly. "The Traveler is prepared to leave you all peacefully, if you so wish."

"What are you talking about?" Ankrell asked forcefully. "What is the Traveler, like what is it really? Some kind of alien or something? What are you? What do you want from us?"

The figure paused, seeming to consider the queries before answering. Ankrell was just about to press him further when he finally responded in the same careful, reasonable tone. "Those are all very good questions, though the answers to them are not easy to understand. The Traveler is not a living thing, nor is it an inanimate object. To an extent, it's…" He paused again before continuing. "It's like a force of nature. It is not subject to any reason other than itself. You don't ask why gravity works the way it does or where it comes from. It's simply there. Yet at the same time, it reacts to phenomenon around it with a certain amount of complexity. One could even argue that it can think. The Darkness functions in a similar manner, but at the same time it's more of a… predatory force? In essence, it works against the natural laws of nature trying to disrupt them. Wherever the Traveler appears, the Darkness appears as well in an attempt to disrupt it. So the Traveler attempts to exert its influence elsewhere, and the Darkness follows."

The Guardians were silent for a long moment, attempting to process this information. Gunshots echoed in the distance. Finally, Haley spoke up. "That… kind of answers the question. While we try and wrap our heads around that, what about the other questions? What are you, and what do you want?"

Yet again, he paused and contemplated the question before answering. "More difficult questions… I'm basically how the Traveler communicates with living beings. Instead of having a physical form and voice, the Traveler conveys its thoughts through me, 'me' being a projection of its thoughts onto your psyche in a form that can be easily understood. As for what I want- what the Traveler wants, if you can call it wanting- is to exert influence on the world without disruption. The Traveler created the Guardians to further this end. But if the Guardians will not help it function by fending off the Darkness, then it has no choice but to exert its influence elsewhere. That's why none of this is necessary. The Traveler was planning to leave if the Guardians turned against it, and that is what has happened."

After another moment of silence, Cog stepped forward. "In that case, I see no reason why we should keep fighting. You will leave, the Darkness will follow, and we will all move on. Agreed?" He extended a hand towards the Speaker.

The Speaker took his hand and shook it. Cog-38 had completed his mission.


End file.
